How can organisations operate successfully in the current environment?

Especially in times of uncertainty, companies should maintain close contact with their customers. This creates opportunities in terms of working the market. Clear communication is a must – not just with customers, but with all stakeholders. Companies are best able to do this if they are efficiently organised. This includes having effective processes in place and access to reliable financial data.

What do you think are the keys to building a good reputation among stakeholders and the public at large?

Regardless of the economic situation, being able to involve stakeholders is always a decisive factor in the success of a business. Exemplary governance and professional risk management are indispensable if you want to reinforce trust. These are very sensitive issues, because they are directly bound up with a company's reputation. For this very reason, this is also an area where credible communication is a must.

What are the most urgent measures companies should be taking now?

Many businesses are under pressure on the operational side, and need rapid results. This means the focus is on sales, margins and financing. Strategic cost management and safeguarding liquidity have to have top priority. The key is to adapt your business model to ensure that your organisation will be able to survive and compete successfully in the long term.

What do you mean by strategic cost management?

Cutting costs in one area can easily lead to an increase in costs in another, or damage the quality of products and services. Strategic cost management starts out with a systematic analysis of cost drivers. The aim is to reduce overall costs taking account of all the relevant quantitative and qualitative factors. For example, realigning operational and other processes, and outsourcing certain functions along the value chain, can bring significant savings.

The issue of safeguarding liquidity has risen back up the agenda. How can companies go about this?

In recent months, a rethink really has taken place in terms of liquidity management. Companies, including those that have never had to worry about short-term finance before, are now having to think about how to safeguard liquidity. This is also an issue that is increasingly being dealt with at the board of directors level. But liquidity management is only one aspect of managing working capital in its entirety.

So why is managing working capital now becoming a more pressing issue?

Working capital has a key impact on cash flow, the primary indicator of an organisation's financial health. Optimum management of working capital – in other words accounts receivable, liabilities and inventory – becomes all the more important when the leverage of growth investments drops off. This is happening at many companies at the moment.

The corporate transactions market has come to a virtual standstill in recent months. Is there any sign of a turnaround in mergers and acquisitions?

The slump in the M&A market came in December 2008. But in the transactions business you have to differentiate between different industries. In the financial sector, for example, there is demand for advice on carve-outs and spin-offs. Transactions are also being discussed in the pharmaceuticals industry. But many planned acquisitions in the industrial sector are not reaching a successful conclusion. Some of our clients use deals to ensure that they have room for manoeuvre. In the longer run, mergers and acquisitions are a proven means of doing so.

What is the key to tackling today's challenges?

The key is for organisations to have a sound financial basis and the right people on board to make the most of the upswing when it does come.

Do you see any positive side to the downturn?

What is positive is that people in business and the public at large have become more aware of the risks.